Chapter Six

Selena's Exile

My head began to spin as I inhaled the pitch black smoke that swirled around me…it was beginning to be too much, that's when I blacked out. That voice—it kept calling my name—who was that? I shook my head; I didn't care enough to remember who it was…the only thought that the people that I'd called my 'parents' for the past few years, the very ones who'd rather save themselves and their precious little 'popular' brat of a daughter, Angelina.

Their screams of terror as the fire that had spontaneously combusted from my anger, and when they' tried to ditch me…I wouldn't have any of that and decided if they'd leave me to die and not even try to help me...they wouldn't make it either.

There was something or someone pulling at my arms, I could feel my body being dragged across a bumpy and very warm floor. I couldn't even lift my head, or open my eyes, to see who it was. I could feel splinters of what seemed like wood shower down upon from a shattered door. I then felt some one picking my body from the ground like an oversized ragdoll and running with a smooth gait; the wind blowing in my hair.

* * * *

I could smell the fresh scent of the forest, the cool refreshing breeze that whistled above me; but how did I get here? My mind began to wander…who saved me from the fire; or why for that matter? My thoughts began to make me feel depressed…but that quickly faded into panic. What if the police found me? Would they find out that I'd been the one to start the fire? (Even though I couldn't have had any control over it.)

I tried to open my eyes—but they wouldn't open or rather they were just temporarily blinded from the fire. A slight rustle in the leaves made me turn my head to the right; trying to find the source of the noise. I could hear footsteps coming towards me…I growled under my breath. I heard a low chuckle as a cool hand brushed against my cheek, I struggled to hear to whom the hand belonged to.

"You need not to worry…you're safe now." The unfamiliar voice murmured aloud, "You're lucky…you could've been lost in the fire as well, had I not come along just in time…" the voice trailed off and I could hear another chuckle.

"Chase? Is that you?" I managed to say; my throat still burned and ached from inhaling the black smoke. An answering chuckle made my skin crawl, "So that is your little friends name…Odd, I never would've thought you'd run with both Vampires and Werewolves… You should have seen your little 'Chase's' face. He thought you were lost in the blaze like those pathetic humans…" His voice trailed off with a chorus of dark pealing laughter to accent his deep and oddly cold voice.

I flinched away from his voice, I tried to stand but I kept falling over. The voice kept chuckling very low. I crawled blindly until I felt the trunk of a tree. Using it for balance I pulled myself up to a standing position, my vision began to come back…but it was still very blurry…I could only make out some shapes and colors of the forest around me. It was getting dark, judging from how dark the forest was.

There was slight movement about my eye level; it was a pale face… Wait a minute…it was the very same pale face I saw last night! This pale-face was the first vampire I'd seen when I'd become a Werewolf, or whatever I am, the very one who Chase had told me was a Vampire. I tensed up immediately…not knowing whether or not he'd attack me in my weakened state.

"You…I know you; I mean, I saw you…last night in the trees." I stammered. He just smirked and his eye's narrowed at my remark.

He chuckled; "Yes…I'm surprised it took you so long to figure it out…" his smirk became more pronounced as my face contorted into slight confusion.

My eyes finally became crystal clear… He looked the same as last night, thin and wispy, but with the Olympic swimmer/sprinter musculature.. I could finally tell what his face truly looked like; high cheekbones a narrow pointed nose and chin. His eyes were glowing, an intense neon blue, and his lips thin and pale in the muted light. But his face portrayed a teenager instead of the adult musculature he resembled. He was about six to six and a half feet tall and had fairly narrow shoulders…maybe one-and-a-half to two feet across. He still seemed foreign to me… like an alien from a distant planet…but also still a little similar.

"Selena wasn't it? Interesting crowds you run with..." he shook his head in mock amazement. I just stood perfectly still, not wanting to acknowledge my name or to give this strange creature any information that could hurt me or my friends. I couldn't help it...but my hands clenched into fists at my side, and my teeth slightly bared as a low growl rumbled under my breath. He just smiled as he watched my reaction to his 'innocent' question.

"That's my business...not yours." I said through stiff lips and a firm tone. My eyes narrowed as he stepped forward, "Oohhh...not so friendly...I would've thought you'd be a bit more grateful to the person who just saved your life...but I guess that's just me."

My lips fell, covering my slight baring grimace, and my hands loosed their hold. "Thank you...for saving my life...I probably would've died anyways, no thanks to the Bridger's." I replied in a softer, more gracious tone.

"Ohh....that is the pathetic human family you belonged to? Serves them right, they should've believed you Selena..." he said, rocking his head and walking to my left.

"How do you know that?!?" I demanded. He just chuckled at my response.

"The very same way I know you aren't a true werewolf, and that you run with Vampires and Werewolves. How you still started the fire still puzzles me...a werewolf that can't possibly be the same as the other; the very one who can start fires in her mind and burn down a whole house within five minutes... I'll bet that your little 'chase' can't do that now can he?" He stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

I bit my lip tentatively, "Don't you think it's kind of rude that you know my name and I don't know yours?"

He nodded, "Yes...that's quite true. Well if it makes you happy...my name is Victor. You already know what I am...the real question is what are you? A mutant or a freak of nature? There is no possible way you're a vamp and a werewolf at the same time..." He began walking towards me and paused about a foot or two away as he finished his declaration.

"Hmmm.....Victor-you said that Chase and my other friends were at my house after the fire? How...no...Why didn't you let them take me? Since they were right there at the time; don't you think that it would've been better?"

He shook his head, "Yeah, and let the authorities take you along with your friends, to a freak school?" He remarked in a really pissed off tone.

"Oh," I replied an a somber voice, I then understood the true meaning of his words, I began backing away from him slowly. "I gotta go." I said in a rush and turned to run.

"Wait!" His voice lashed out like a whip, but I was already gone, changing into the wolf I'd become last night.

I thought I could out run him once I'd changed, and sure enough it worked. I leaped over a short picket fence and pushed through Mrs. Cromwell's azalea bushes, climbing over the fence that separated our yards into my yard.

Once I scrambled over the fence and was standing I looked around; I was appalled, everything was in ruin...burned into piles of charred remains and ash. "Oh...my...god...What have I done?" I sank to my knees and buried my head in my hands.

I sat in a silent vigil, never moving an inch from the burned wreckage that had once been my home...I could've been there for hours...but hunger is an escapable part of being...alive. I could hear my stomach protest in response to my silent thoughts. I wouldn't eat until I desperately had to....and I wasn't desperate just yet. My stomach growled continuously like a starving, provoked animal trapped in a cage quite a few sizes too small.

It became dark and the lights of the small town began to go out, one by one, by one as the time progressed well into the night. I rose to my feet and walked on all fours to what was the front of the house. I turned towards it, tears welling in my eyes I let out a long pitiful wail of a howl.

Lights flashed on from the Nelson's home on the right, and Mr. Nelson poked his head out his window and yelled "Shut Up! We're trying to sleep here...oh-my-god, Martha get my gun there's a wolf outside the house at the Bridger's!" He propped open the window and hoisted his gun to his shoulder, and I could hear Mrs. Nelson calling the county sheriff's department demanding for units to get here as soon as possible. I heard swarms of police cruisers heading my way, but I didn't care, I just kept howling in my despair.

A shot rang through the air, both red and blue lights surrounded me. There was a painful stinging on my right shoulder, I turned my head to look at it...It was bleeding really bad, someone had shot me...and I'm pretty sure that someone was Mr. Nelson. I looked back and saw five sets of cops, all of whom were aiming at me.

I growled in response and backed away, my ears flattening against my head with every step. Another shot, this one barely missed my head. I snarled and launched myself through the ruins, over the back fence, to the Yellowstone Park. The police followed me after they raced around the last corner house... I was scrambling up the fence when they reached me.

They began shooting at me, many came really close...it was only until I was about to get on the other side, a bullet hit my arm. I fell over the edge and hit with a loud thump. I screamed in agony as I landed, for I had landed on the same arm and shoulder that'd been shot. I scrambled to my feet trying to get as far as I could from the police and their guns.

As I ran, well hobbled really, I couldn't use my right foreleg, so I figured it'd be easier when I would run on two legs than limping on three. I eventually could no longer hear the police or any sign of humans nearby so I decided to stop for a while...

I examined my newly acquired wounds, "Ohh....great! The only time that would be nice to be anywhere near a hospital... I have to be the farthest away possible from one! What the hell?" I hate hospitals! They have needles, IV's and worst of all; blood donated in little bags....Ewwww! A dim thought gave me a flicker of hope...I had a sewing needle and thread hidden in one of the leggings on the denim jeans I was wearing... maybe I could stitch it up until I cold get some real medical attention...

"Okay...just how did I change back?" I asked myself aloud and majorly confused. "Was it thinking like a human? No... Wait-no that's not it either....huh. How did that happen?" I sat down and racked my brain...what had Chase said? It can't be that hard to remember... the wind began blowing as if in response to my thoughts. I could hear a faint, wispy voice, as if it were a ghost.

The ghostly whisper in the wind said:

"Follow your instincts child...Imagination is the key for the change you want to see...the help you seek cannot be found....for the help is not in the largest forest, the deepest ocean, or the infinite sky... it is within yourself...but be warned may not the purity of the blood that can save those closest and farthest from you, but the manner of which the blood was spilled will determine the fate of all around you... "

The ghostly whisper trailed off fading into the wind once more and I shuddered a bit at the spectral voice and realized it's meaning; I had to believe I am human, in order for me to change back...but what about the whole blood thing? I shook the thought out of my head...

The wind blew from a new direction...was it South or North? I couldn't tell...but it brought a scent that I recognized immediately; I inhaled deeply...Vampire!